This is a world I knew NOTHING about. I’ve had the fortune to be at a Japanese nightclub before, and I wondered what the backstory of some of these hostess girls were. The mind can go to dark places, but as Midnight Girls shows, even the practical answers are fascinating as well. Irene Emma Villamor’s movie is yet another reminder, that at any point, anyone can surprise you in some amazing way.
Midnight Girls takes us into Mama Cherry’s (Carmi Martin) nightclub in Nagoya Japan. There we follow 4 of the entertainers, all of Filipino descent. Vicky (Jodi Sta. Maria) is the eldest, providing guidance for newcomers like 20 year old Wanna (Loisa Andalio), and the now settled vets Paris (Sanya Lopez) and Saki (Jane Oineza). Wanna slowly finds her footing, and become the new hot thing at Mama Cherry’s just as you might have guessed, Vicky, Paris, and Saki are all going though personal crises of their own, throwing the club and their life, dynamics into upheaval.
This is a helluva premise! Irene Emma Villamor I think knows there’s lots of material here, and gives us 4 unique perspectives on this very specific Filipino expat experience. Wanna gets the fun optimistic version of this immigrant tale, young and hot, with her whole future ahead of her, ready to make her life her own. Saki and Paris are further along Wanna’s timeline, and in the messiness of when fantasy and reality start to meet. Lines blur when Paris starts seeing Genji (Genki Ito), her ex boyfriend/ex gentlemen caller again, wondering if it’s time to quit her hustling lifestyle and settle into domestic “bliss”. Saki’s journey is more internal, as she finally can’t contain her body dysmorphia much more, realizing it’s time to make some choices about who they will become. And then there’s Vicky, by far the most interesting tale. She’s built a life for herself in Nagoya, but her focus and goal has always been towards her family back in the Philippines. She’s got a son Patrick (Zaijian Jaranilla) who’s hitting his teenage years, and has only experience his mom mostly as a face on the other side of a smartphone. In addition, she does real estate work, but lives in constant fear of being recognized as one of those “whores” from the clubs. She takes all these motherly feelings and then projects them onto the trio, but knows they aren’t her kids too. Irene Emma Villamor has many directions she can take for Midnight Girls, I was excited to see where she would go.
And where she goes is where execution matters. The tantalizing premise is wasted by almost laughably bad storytelling and dialogue. Villamor leans into hardcore manipulative melodrama, giving us standard beats we can see coming from a mile away for the most part. The conversations never once feel real: it’s a series of thematic statements the characters say to one another, not in any way resembling how words and talking works. I was so ready to love Midnight Girls, really digging the montages and immersion into Nagoya’s life. But sadly, every time a character opens their mouths the inartifice sucks the emotional beats out of the potency the story should have but never realizes.
Midnight Girls needs a do over. Let’s get this to Sean Baker maybe? Or how about Brillante Mendoza for a Filipino touch? I want a Dear You type experience next time we try this please? I want to be in tears or ecstatic from my new life. Just, next time, listen to people talk to one another please?